Here
is a Dutch-inspired block plane I just built. Very easy and lots
of fun. I had an extra Lie-Nielsen #102 iron so I designed the
plane around it. I knew it was going to have a traditional wedge
so that would be simple. The body, however, required some
thought and patience.

Using some David Stanley catalogs as inspiration, I came up with
a concept. Based loosely on the Dutch plane, I made mine with...

I have owned this marking gauge for over thirty years
and have shown it to tool users and tool collectors to
try to understand the calibrations on it.

Collectively we could not solve meaning of the
calibrations and numbers. Perhaps someone in this group
can. Unfortunately I do not know from what country it
came from or when it was made. It is very old and was
extensively used by a craftsman who worked wood.

Fine
joinery it was not but I feel rewarded to have had the opportunity
to teach some kids how to make bluebird houses.
It was the last day of their class and each child left with a
completed bluebird house and a set of instructions on where to
install it.
Every child was extremely attentive and I have to say that they
quickly learned some basic unplugged woodworking skills which
hopefully has inspired them to learn more...

Iíve
really needed to do this for quite some time. Enough
procrastination! The first step was timber selection. Boxwood
was an obvious choice here.
The first step was setting out a design and layout. Then I put a
couple planes to work making the design a reality. I finished
the exterior first, and now to saw in half and carve the
interior features. Stay tuned for this progress. Iíll be doing
two boxes in total. Each will be different.

It
has been pointed out by a few of us that this group seldom ventures
outside a well defined part of the world when discussing unplugged
traditional woodworking.

Most members of this group buy tools and
employ methods that are based in the British Isles and North
America. There is a nod on occasion to Japanese woodworking but
there are few posts on tools beyond planes, saws, and chisels.

This
Boxwood Low-angle Smoother with a bronze sole and snecked iron was
inspired by a plane made by maker Olie Sparks. First things first, I
need to acknowledge the pioneering and game-changing work put into
this plane design by Ollie Sparks. His work in making a contemporary
version of the plane provided me both inspiration and a firm resolve
to attempt this myself. While there are subtle changes in my plane,
I tried ...

Inventors in the 19th Century sought patents for improvements to
tools to make them perform better and sometimes, with more
precision. Such is the case of G. L. Holt of Springfield, Mass.
who on June 29, 1875 was granted U.S. Patent No. 164,999 for a
more precision way to hold bits in a brace. The Barber
Shell Chuck, patented a decade earlier, had seized a big part of
the market ...

Iíve
been admiring (more like copious drooling) the Boxwood /Gabon
Ebony Jack plane of Jim Hendricks for the better part of last
year. It is such a beautiful plane. Inspired by that project, I
thought now is the time to proceed.
I didnít have any large Ebony, so Iím using some lovely Katalox
for the wedge, strike button, and handle. A solid plus is that
Katalox is super tough and has interlocked fibers.

In my post on handles/holders I purposefully did not
mention a very interesting and useful type that at first
glance appears to be a hand vise.
But it is also a bitstock tool that came with a set of
tools, including a washer cutter, in a compartment in
its handle. It was made by Miller's Falls and appeared
to be popular in the 1920's. It was referred to as "No.
1 Alford's Hand Vise" ...

A tool buddy of
mine recently sold me a never-used Record 311 3-in-1 shoulder plane
and today I made a simple case for it and tried out its various
functions. In my opinion it has four functions. It can be used as a
shoulder plane, a rabbet plane, a bullnose rabbet plane, and a
chisel plane.

I
like Norris planes and have several of them. Post-war A5s have
features that distinguish them from pre-war A5s. Some of
the features are cosmetic, and some are fundamental changes in
construction.
In pre-war models, the sides of the body were dovetailed
together using steel plates. In contrast, the sides of the
post-war models are welded to the bottom. Welding is a major change
in construction.